Derbyshire Premier end of season report 2006
by Gwyn Jones, 15th October 2006

Another Successful Season has been concluded with progress being made in a number of areas. It got off to a dismal start with wet and cold weather in April and May, though there were few disruptions to the matches The improved covering of pitches helped, of course, and later the season ended in a heat wave, confirming the vagaries of the British climate.

Interest in the League positions was maintained throughout the Season with a real tussle at the top between the League Champions, Ockbrook & Borrowash and the 2004 Champions Sandiacre Town. This wasn’t resolved until the final week-end when Ockbrook came through to pip Sandiacre at the post by a mere 2 points. There was a similar struggle at the bottom before Marehay and Ilkeston Rutland were relegated.

The Derbyshire Premier Cup Competition

This competition included four teams from the Notts Premier League and one of the Notts teams, Caythorpe, reached the Quarter Final stage. Unfortunately they were forced to concede to Ockbrook & Borrowash because they were also caught up in the final stages of the National Cockspur Cup. Disruptions by rain in that competition had used up the Sundays allocated to the Derbyshire Cup.

Unfortunately  Caythorpe were eliminated in the Semi-Final of the Cockspur Cup, but Ockbrook went on to meet Sandiacre in the Derbyshire Final on 11 September. Ockbrook won an exciting Final before a good crowd, thus achieving the double of League and Cup.

League Cricket Conference v Club Cricket Conference

This Annual fixture was played at Denby CC on 8 August and resulted in a big win for the LCC. Batting first the LCC set up a big score of 315-5 which included a rapid 78 from captain David Smit and 88 from Sohail Rauf and then dismissed the CCC for 163, with Oliver Saffell taking 3-39.

LCC President’s Trophy 2006

The Derbyshire Premier League entered this competition as Champions, but this year they were eliminated in the first round by the North East Premier League. This was a low scoring game but it provided an exciting finish. Batting first, the North East were dismissed for a modest 154, which could have been worse had not Derbyshire dropped five catches. Then Derbyshire were reduced to 92-9, with the match seemingly over, but a last wicket stand, lasting 80 minutes between Lian Wharton and John Jordison, took the game to the final over with 2 runs needed for victory when Wharton was bowled by Craig Symington. It was a good year for the North East who went on to win the Trophy.

Discipline

This Season has seen the introduction of the Minor Misdemeanors Code. Under this Code a player reported twice by the Umpires within a twelve month period will be suspended automatically for two games. This happened to two players, although twelve players will take one report with them into next Season. It must be considered a success because for the first time since the Premier League was founded in 1999 there were no major misdemeanors reported. Good News indeed!

Growth of the Pyramid System

Progress to the Premier League is from the feeder Division 1 of the Derbyshire County League and it is of some interest to note that the Pyramid was significantly extended during the 2006 Season, notably with some strong clubs from adjacent East Staffordshire. These clubs have adapted well and some of them have aspirations to proceed through the system and challenge for promotion to the Premier League. So, the demographic base has been broadened into an area with a strong cricketing tradition.

Grounds & Conditions

Improvements initiated last season were seen to benefit some clubs. Four clubs were able to use their full sized adjacent grounds during the season and one other Club, Quarndon, has cleared the extra ground ready for refurbishment during the Winter. With more spectators visiting the grounds the Grounds Committee is turning its attention to facilities which will benefit and encourage spectators such as extra seating and improved score boards. Several clubs have installed electronic score boards and there is a general interest  in this improved system. The Committee Members have been very active in visiting the grounds of clubs who are seeking promotion and also existing clubs in a drive to maintain standards.

Relations with the County Club

The system introduced by David Haughton, Derbyshire’s Director of Cricket, was continued with the allocation of a County player to each team in the Premier League. The teams make their choice with priority based on the previous season’s League positions. Some problems with the system have been highlighted this season in relation to the availability of these players. Clearly each player’s first allegiance is to the County, and in this respect some League teams have benefited with fairly regular availability of the County player whilst others were able to include their County professional on only rare occasions.

For example Marehay who had their County professional available on a fairly regular basis in 2005 had little support from Chris Taylor in 2006 because he was needed by the County Club. This undoubtedly affected their League position and they were relegated. Much the same can be implied to the other relegated team. Ilkeston Rutland who chose Ant Botha, a regular member of Derbyshire’s first team.

However, the system has been generally welcomed and has done much to bring about good relations between the League and the County Club. It can be claimed that the League system in Derbyshire has been a good servant to County Cricket over the years with the likes of Ian Blackwell (Somerset), Chris Adams (Sussex), Samit Patel, AJ Harris (Notts), Bilal Shafayat (Northants) and for Derbyshire, Ant Botha. Kevin Dean, Tom Lungley, Jake Needham, Wayne White Paul Borrington and Dan Birch.

The current good relations owe much to David Haughton who has gone out of his way to encourage local talent. However, on a more critical note there remains dissatisfaction with the relations between the Premier Leagues and the  County game nationally. This is a matter which Chairman Clive Harris will want to raise at the next meeting of the Premier Leagues’ Chairmen at Lords in October.

Read Gwyn's round up of the clubs here.